The United States, and indeed the world, is buzzing right now.
After months and years of calls to impeach President Donald Trump, Speaker for the House Nancy Pelosi announced this week they would undertake formal proceedings to investigate reports of alleged collusion with Russia and Ukraine.
While the announcement was, by and large, met with raucous applause on social media, impeachment and Trump's removal from office is unlikely and it by no means serves as a solution to America's broader social issues. If impeachment is successful and Trump is removed from office, the man who will automatically see out the rest of the term is Vice President Mike Pence, and he is a much more dangerous alternative.
Impeachment Is Unlikely
For a president to be impeached and subsequently removed from office, a few things need to happen: If the investigation finds sufficient evidence of wrongdoings, it will first go to the House of Representatives to hold a vote.
Democrats, Trump's opposition, hold a majority here and a majority of votes is required to impeach. Then the Senate, where Trump's Republican buddies hold the majority, conduct a trial and votes of a two-thirds or more majority is required to convict.
Only if this majority is reached, (given the Trump's party hold the majority this is unlikely given no Republican has stepped forward saying they support impeachment), can the President be removed from office. His role will be passed down to the Vice President, Mike Pence.
So, who is Mike Pence?
Here is a man who once said, "I'm a Christian, a conservative and a Republican… in that order." As the former Governor of Indiana and a member of the House since 2001, he has vast political experience, especially in comparison to Trump who had zero until he was voted into office.
During his time as Governor, he signed in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 2015, which would have allowed businesses to refuse service to members of the LGBTQ community on religious grounds. Facing a huge amount of backlash from human rights groups and boycotts, an amendment protecting the LGBTQ community was signed into law a month later.
'Protect the Unborn'
As a staunch pro-lifer, he sought to de-fund Planned Parenthood in 2007 and signed a bill in 2016 to ban abortions, even in the early stages of pregnancy, because the foetus had a disability.
"By enacting this legislation, we take an important step in protecting the unborn, while still providing an exception for the life of the mother. I sign this legislation with a prayer that God would continue to bless these precious children, mothers and families," he said in a statement at the time.
On Homosexuality
He believes sexual orientation is a choice: "The vast majority of the psychological community says homosexuality at a very minimum is a choice by the individual," he said in 1990, opposed gay marriage, and didn't want LGBTQ troops to serve in the military because "the presence of homosexuals in the ranks weakens unit cohesion."
On Safe Sex
As a 'Christian first', he believes abstinence is the only way to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections. While technically he's right, he somehow believes condoms are grossly ineffective at preventing the spread of STIs and said so with zero scientific evidence.
In response to then-Secretary Colin Powell endorsing condom use during the George W. Bush administration, Pence told CNN: "Abstinence is the best choice for young people… Frankly, condoms are a very, very poor protection against sexually transmitted diseases, and the Secretary of State may be inadvertently misleading millions of young people and endangering lives."
We Should Still Impeach
Of course, all these facts should not be a reason to not pursue Trump's impeachment: in the words of Nancy Pelosi "No one is above the law" (although as a friend pointed out, there are many, many Americans like Jeffrey Epstein who, with money and the right lawyers, seemingly are).
I’m no fan of Trump, and justice should still be served. But it is important to acknowledge the kind of person who would take over the reins: a smarter man with more political experience and a much smaller ego.
This opinion piece was published on whimn.com.au on September 28, 2020.